iPad

iOS

Jailbreak

Cydia

A recent report claims Apple has hired former Senate staffer Amber Cottle, who previously served as a staff director on one of the most influential committees on Capitol Hill, to be its new lobbyist in Washington, D.C. According to Politico, Apple recently hired Cottle to handle government affairs in Washington as the company looks to grow its influence amid an increasingly volatile customer privacy landscape.

Before Apple, Cottle worked as a Senate Finance Committee staffer for five years. She was named Democratic Staff Director by Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in 2012, moving up from a previous post as the committee’s Chief International Trade Counsel.

Cottle will be taking over for Apple’s former top lobbyist Catherine Novelli, who in September left the company after being nominated to a post at the State Department.

It should be noted that Apple isn’t historically known for its lobbying activities, though the company has been more active in Washington after becoming the world’s largest tech company. One of the main reasons for Apple’s recent interest in politicking is the company’s unique tax strategy, which has been framed by the US Congress as being exploitative.

The Cupertino California company is reported to have spent roughly $3.3 million in lobbying efforts in 2013, which is a significant boost from 2012’s roughly $2 million. According to Reuters in comparison, other large tech companies allot much more capital to lobbying expenditures, with Microsoft and Google logging a respective $8 million and $16.5 million for 2012.

Us congress frames it exploitive. Pretty hypocritical since congress is the one that made all the loop holes to make it legal. Smh!! Lmao

I saw a Night line or 20/20 special and they tracked Google and followed the money paper trail through 14 countries ending in Ireland in a small office with 8 employees and the office that shuffles paperwork, isn't marked by a company name on the front.

Us congress frames it exploitive. Pretty hypocritical since congress is the one that made all the loop holes to make it legal. Smh!! Lmao

I saw a Night line or 20/20 special and they tracked Google and followed the money paper trail through 14 countries ending in Ireland in a small office with 8 employees and the office that shuffles paperwork, isn't marked by a company name on the front.

Come out on Top!! The company that outsource thousands of jobs, take advantage of U.S resources, manipulates the system to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, etc. I pay higher taxes than Apple.

How do they avoid paying their fair share if the law says they don't have to pay the same percentage? Why don't you give your full paycheck to the government if you feel like people aren't paying enough taxes? People will say well apple can afford to pay more taxes. But why would they if they don't have to. If they were to bring their money in from overseas, it would be double taxes and that's what people don't realize. They would have to pay normal taxes that they pay and then another tax for bringing the money back into the country. That's what the law states. Also, Apple pays more in taxes in 1 quarter than your net revenue for life.

Also, they're aren't enough people willing to do the jobs they have outsourced overseas. Hence why the new Mac Pro is so far behind on backorders. They've brought production over here but Amercian workers can't work as fast as they do over there.

How do they avoid paying their fair share if the law says they don't have to pay the same percentage? Why don't you give your full paycheck to the government if you feel like people aren't paying enough taxes? People will say well apple can afford to pay more taxes. But why would they if they don't have to. If they were to bring their money in from overseas, it would be double taxes and that's what people don't realize. They would have to pay normal taxes that they pay and then another tax for bringing the money back into the country. That's what the law states. Also, Apple pays more in taxes in 1 quarter than your net revenue for life.

Also, they're aren't enough people willing to do the jobs they have outsourced overseas. Hence why the new Mac Pro is so far behind on backorders. They've brought production over here but Amercian workers can't work as fast as they do over there.

That's a bunch of crap. Apple paid less than 5% in taxes but used American resources to gain what they have. And how stupid can you be to compare an individual to a corporation as far as taxes?

Yes it would be more taxes but that's the point. You use American resources to build your company, then you pay your taxes so they can be put back into the system so others my benefit from the same. But obviously you don't get that.

And there are more than enough people willing to do the jobs Apple require. The problem is they want to pay people the bare minimum and that want flow here. People over in China are killing themselves trying to get out of forced labor for the the manufacturers Apple use.

That's a bunch of crap. Apple paid less than 5% in taxes but used American resources to gain what they have. And how stupid can you be to compare an individual to a corporation as far as taxes?

I believe you're the one who said that they paid more taxes than apple. So you're the one comparing yourself, an individual, to a corporation. And you act as if apple is the only American company that is outsourcing the work. America doesn't have any plants that can kick out the kind of production that they can get in Asia. Plain and simple. And you're wrong about people wanting to do that kind of work. It would be the kind of people who work at mcdonalds right now that would have those jobs. Educated people with degrees won't want a manufacturing job like what's required to make these products. People who work at mcdonalds probably aren't going to be qualified or willing to be trained to work like that. I'm not trying to bash on people who work at mcdonalds but you get my point.

Apple also has paid over $12 billion to developers from the App Store. In a way, you can say that Apple has created more jobs by shifting to Asia because without supply of the product there wouldn't be demand. Without demand, there wouldn't be app sales and devs wouldn't get paid.

Apple also has plans to give money back to shareholders. $60 billion is nothing to sneeze at. People will want more but apple is smart to hang onto some for a rainy day in case they need it. Hopefully, if they keep earning more money that they'll eventually give more back.

As far as the 5%. It goes back to what I said before about the law. It's not apple's fault that the law is screwed up. But they aren't going to pay more if they don't have to. You won't pay more taxes if you didn't have to.